Fulfilling a lifelong destiny.

Look! We are some of life's winners! I was soooo proud. We won a free lunch and everything (note that they had to specify the drinks were to be non-alcoholic. Management know us so well). It's kind of patronising actually, because we don't even try to keep our apartment extra-special clean, this is just its normal level of clean. Which indicates a lot about everyone else's apartments (with drugs and takeout food and loose women sprawled about, probably). But still; I love being rewarding for living my normal life and not really trying very hard. Yay for us!

Being a tourist.

Excuse me for being a super-predictable tourist, but I am so excited to see Niagra Falls.

My Russian friend Irina always calls me by my Russian name. I can't spell it in english, but it's pronounced 'Ka-choo-sha'. It's nice, isn't it? I think it might catch on.

I am going for a run OUTSIDE, because there's no snow or ice on the roads, for the first time in months.

The Great Travelling Plan of 2009.

So, after weeks of research and planning and me throwing tantrums, we have a travelling plan! We've already booked the three flights involved, and scheduled ourselves in for two farm "holidays", so it can't really be changed anymore. Thank goodness. Here it is:

May 3rd - Waterton to Nelson ("working holiday", staying on an organic farm for free, whilst helping with farm tasks)
May 21st - Nelson to Waterton (the bus goes through Waterton anyway, so we figured we'd stop by for a few days of summer hiking and relaxing)
May 26th - Waterton to Banff
May 28th - Banff to Jasper (a tour with Moose Travel for a few days, the journey goes up the Icefields Parkway, which is meant to be one of the world's most beautiful drives)
May 31st - Jasper to Banff
June 1st - Banff to London, Ontario (where we'll travel by train and bus to Chicago, because it works out as $400 rather than the $800+ of flying into Chicago. We can stay with Seamus' relatives in Chicago)
June 9th - Chicago to Toronto (another long bus ride...)
June 12th - Toronto to Algonquin Park (another tour with Moose Travel, so I'll be camping in the woods for my 25th birthday!)
June 14th - Algonquin Park to Toronto (another few days in Toronto, during which we'll also go to Niagra Falls)
June 20th - Toronto to Halifax, Nova Scotia (On a PLANE, this time)
June 23rd - Halifax to St. John's, Newfoundland (another plane)
June 26th - St John's to Deer Lake (where we'll hire a car...)
June 27th - Deer Lake to Gros Morne National Park (we are desperate to go there, purely because we saw a really nice photo of it....)
June 29th - Deer Lake to Port Aux Basque (spend a night while we wait for...)
June 30th - Port Aux Basque to North Sydney, Nova Scotia (on a ferry! we'll then get a bus to Baddeck, the second of our farm hosts)
July 17th - Baddeck to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (I've heard it's beautiful)
July 20th - Charlottetown to Fredericton, New Brunswick (we are going almost entirely because Seamus likes the word 'Fredericton')
July 22nd - Fredericton to Quebec City (on an overnight train....it's a long way...I am so excited about seeing Quebec!)
July 28th - Quebec City to Montreal
August 1st - Montreal to Ottawa
August 4th - Ottawa to Montreal (for our final few days in Canada!)
August 8th - Montreal to London Heathrow :( (back to a world where it rains a lot, and we have to be careful with money, and I don't have ANY deer in my back garden)

I would like to have a map of Canada here, with lines and arrows showing where we're going but I'm not clever enough. You get the idea, anyway. We are going to SO MANY PLACES. I think we're going to be exhausted. But we'll see so many things! (7 provinces in three months, plus a US state). It's going to be so amazing.

Spring found us at last.

Today is beautiful, and the kind of day that makes me remember how special Waterton is. I went for a walk alone, and to take the recycling out, and the sun is shining and the snow is melting (actually, that part is kind of ugly, and means it's still necessary to wear snow boots, as four feet of snow becomes four feet of slush, and then four feet of water). There is a man playing guitar outside the Resort, I have no idea who he is, or why he picked a village with a population of 30 to busk in, but I was glad he was there. I went to the post office, and Bristol had a basket of chocolate eggs in for customers to take (she has chocolate on the counter for every occasion). As all the businesses in Waterton re-open next month, there's lots of people around doing construction work and painting their shops and restaurants, so lots of people to say hello to when you're out. Although I love Waterton in the winter, there is starting to be a real buzz around as more people arrive for the summer season. I am cleaning the house with the windows wide open, and my music playing. I wish I had an ice lolly!

Burn, winter, burn!

I'm a little jealous because of all the posts on my friends' facebooks about the beautiful weather. Sunshine and beer gardens...it's just not fair. These photos were taken two days ago. Walking around the lake, the snow was past my knees. I want the sun on my face, and to be able to go for a walk without having to put snow boots on first. I want to drink by the lake (of course, this is illegal as well as cold in Canada) and play catch! I miss Canterbury at this time of year. I love the Albertan weather but the winter's seemed l-o-n-g and I want summer! Or even spring!

Customer service.

Lately, we've had a succession of guests in the hotel who've been very unhappy because "there's nothing to do in Waterton". The complaints often relate to the limited satellite television we have here, the fact that all the shops are closed, and it's winter so it's cold outside. IN WHAT WORLD DO THEY THINK WE CONTROL THE WEATHER?? Why would people come on holiday to a national park in the winter and expect to watch television and go shopping? And why would you go on holiday somewhere without doing your research first? Every guidebook and internet search in the world would tell you that a)Waterton has very few amenities and b)THAT'S WHY PEOPLE LIKE IT. It's a place for hiking and skiing and generally being outdoors. Not for shopping. Stay in Calgary if you want to go shopping.

There's no reasoning with these people!

Also, as a tip for the world, as customers:
*Don't complain AFTER you've paid for a service. What do you expect to get out of it at that point? If you're really unhappy about something, complain as soon as you can! They'll try and help! After you've paid (or eaten your meal, or stayed in your hotel room), there's nothing they can do except say sorry. And if you're complaining about the weather, or the fact that you don't have enough imagination to entertain yourselves, don't expect to get much out of it. You'll just cause an otherwise chirpy and optimistic girl to becomed jaded and bitter.

I will never work in tourism after this, please.

Adventures in Whitehorse.

So that's pretty much the end of our Yukon adventures. Here's a few things we learnt about the Yukon:
1)Dogs wear shoes.
2)There are murals EVERYWHERE. That photo above of the colourful shops and hotels? It's a painting on a wall.
3)Everyone is really proud of the SS Klondike (the ship above) on the waterfront. But it is on the ground! Not the water! Surely that's cheating?
4)Toilets are in huts in the forests.
5)Yukon chips are BRILLIANT! None of this skinny fries business...good, proper, thick chips! In every place we ate chips, they were of high quality. Yay!